The spells mentions "You touch a dead humanoid or a piece of a dead humanoid."
Can I harvest the "piece" in advance (say, a tooth) while I'm still alive, and then cast Reincarnate on the tooth?
I've recently been disintegrated, and there's no "pieces" left of my dead humanoid body...
But another PC has one of my teeth (it's a long story)... would that work?
Edit: additional question. Disintegrate mentions "the creature can be restored to life only by means of a True Resurrection or a Wish spell". Does it mean Reincarnate won't work?
Personally I would say yes you could reincarnate from it. The tooth is yours and it escaped the Disintegrate. Because you're not trying to bring back the pile of dust - and Reincarnate makes a new body - it should be fine in my opinion.
The spells mentions "You touch a dead humanoid or a piece of a dead humanoid." Can I harvest the "piece" in advance (say, a tooth) while I'm still alive
No. That is what True Resurrection is for. This was clearer in 3.5e (which actually added "the portion receiving the spell must have been part of the creature’s body at the time of death"). It looks like the 5e writers were trying to condense spell descriptions by removing some edge case references, but it doesn't seem like they were trying to now allow the pre-harvesting hack as a work-around (especially given the Disintegrate text below).
Disintegrate mentions "the creature can be restored to life only by means of a True Resurrection or a Wish spell". Does it mean Reincarnate won't work?
As a DM, having death being only a setback can often remove a lot of the tension. I think that spells like Disintegrate help build that tension back up, by having a "permanent" death still be a possibility. So I wouldn't allow it.
This being said, if you have access to reincarnate you're probably around 10th level, if you have a cleric in your party, this seems like it would be within the range of a Divine Intervention.
If the player really doesn't want to lose their character and it would ruin their fun, I would also encourage them to find a way in-game. Maybe someone else can cast this, or maybe an old legend tells of a cave that deal with matters of life and death, or something along these lines. Making it a quest.
I'd say this one's a fairly unique situation, so I would rule that the key is reincarnate's limitation that the creature can have been dead no more than 10 days. If the other PC knocked your tooth out less than 10 days ago, you're golden. If it's been longer than that, you're gonna need a bigger spell.
This may seem like I’m a stickler for the rules, but the tooth was never “a piece of a dead humanoid”. It was removed when you were alive and thus never part of you when you were dead which is what the spell requires. Personally I might allow it if there was a reasonable in story/game reason, but otherwise true resurrection would be the only way.
The spells mentions "You touch a dead humanoid or a piece of a dead humanoid."
Can I harvest the "piece" in advance (say, a tooth) while I'm still alive, and then cast Reincarnate on the tooth?
I've recently been disintegrated, and there's no "pieces" left of my dead humanoid body...
But another PC has one of my teeth (it's a long story)... would that work?
Edit: additional question. Disintegrate mentions "the creature can be restored to life only by means of a True Resurrection or a Wish spell". Does it mean Reincarnate won't work?
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Personally I would say yes you could reincarnate from it. The tooth is yours and it escaped the Disintegrate. Because you're not trying to bring back the pile of dust - and Reincarnate makes a new body - it should be fine in my opinion.
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No. That is what True Resurrection is for. This was clearer in 3.5e (which actually added "the portion receiving the spell must have been part of the creature’s body at the time of death"). It looks like the 5e writers were trying to condense spell descriptions by removing some edge case references, but it doesn't seem like they were trying to now allow the pre-harvesting hack as a work-around (especially given the Disintegrate text below).
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Up to DM. I'd probably allow it, but I can definitely see why others wouldn't.
As a DM, having death being only a setback can often remove a lot of the tension. I think that spells like Disintegrate help build that tension back up, by having a "permanent" death still be a possibility. So I wouldn't allow it.
This being said, if you have access to reincarnate you're probably around 10th level, if you have a cleric in your party, this seems like it would be within the range of a Divine Intervention.
If the player really doesn't want to lose their character and it would ruin their fun, I would also encourage them to find a way in-game. Maybe someone else can cast this, or maybe an old legend tells of a cave that deal with matters of life and death, or something along these lines. Making it a quest.
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I'd say this one's a fairly unique situation, so I would rule that the key is reincarnate's limitation that the creature can have been dead no more than 10 days. If the other PC knocked your tooth out less than 10 days ago, you're golden. If it's been longer than that, you're gonna need a bigger spell.
This may seem like I’m a stickler for the rules, but the tooth was never “a piece of a dead humanoid”. It was removed when you were alive and thus never part of you when you were dead which is what the spell requires. Personally I might allow it if there was a reasonable in story/game reason, but otherwise true resurrection would be the only way.